Newcastle United have confirmed that their forward, Harvey Barnes, will be missing for the rest of this calendar year after the injury he sustained against Sheffield United last weekend.
Barnes went off at Bramall Lane after around just ten minutes of The Magpies’ eventual 8-0 victory over the newly-promoted strugglers with Anthony Gordon taking his place and going on to win Sky Sports’ Player of the Match award.
The type of and extent of the injury was not yet known until Eddie Howe’s pre-match press conference on Friday morning, ahead of Newcastle United’s home match against Burnley in the Premier League this weekend.
Howe said: “He’s going to be out for around three months. No surgery required which is good news but his foot is now in a boot. It’s an injury underneath his toe.”
Barnes has yet to start firing for last season’s fourth-placed side, following his move from Leicester City over the summer for a fee of around £38 million.
Despite being relegated with The Foxes last season, Barnes performed impressively with 13 goals in 34 games from out-wide in a struggling Leicester side.
The now 25-year-old Burnley-born winger began his career with Leicester in 2016. He enjoyed loan spells with Milton Keynes Dons, Barnsley and West Bromwich Albion in his development. He was a part of the Leicester side that won both the FA Cup and the Community Shield.
Newcastle’s options for the wing include the aforementioned Anthony Gordon as well as the likes of Miguel Almiron, Jacob Murphy and Matt Ritchie. Joelinton and Alexander Isak have both played there in the past, as well as Tino Livramento at Southampton, whilst fellow new signing Lewis Hall made his first start for the club playing high on the left against Manchester City in the EFL Cup third round in midweek.
Newcastle began the season with a 5-1 defeat of Aston Villa before a run of three successive defeats before the international break. They have now kept four successive clean sheets, though, as they seek to emulate the impressive campaign of last year.
